CENTERS PLAN
THE H E A LT H Y COMMUNITY
THE EVOLVING CENTER The centralized marketplace has functioned as the essential space for commerce and civic transactions since humans first began to structure urban communities. In describing the ancient cities of Mesopotamia and Egypt, urban historian Lewis Mumford stresses the nature of the market as an urban institution whose function was the “procurement, storage and distribution� of goods. Its permanence in the life of the city was dependent on reliable mass transport, originally via waterway, and a population large enough to provide merchants with a good living and sufficient urban workshops to produce goods for general sale. In the United States, the modern version of the marketplace is still dependent on mass transport. But that transport system is global and involves a network of trucks, air freight, and huge container ships. In addition, the marketplace itself now includes a virtual component. The physical marketplace has become much less urbanized, and is spread out along major commercial corridors. The shift away from downtown as the central marketplace to suburban strips and shopping centers scattered throughout an entire region began with the rise of the automobile as the vehicle for personal transportation. As discussed more extensively in the Suburban chapter, cars enabled Americans to live farther from an urbanized core. Individualized transportation brought numerous amenities to locations within closer driving distances to suburban homes, but these amenities were laid out for access by private automobile.
Basic Center Characteristics For planning purposes, centers share many of the following characteristics: • Multiple uses and functions—including commercial, office and retail—accommodated on a more intense scale than other transect zones.
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Intensely developed as complete communities with an integrated mixture of land uses, including residential. Buildings oriented towards transportation corridors and other prominent streets. Active, pedestrian-friendly streets.
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Multimodal transportation access. Big-box groceries and restaurants well oriented to pedestrian customers, with smaller markets and locally owned restaurants integrated into the mix. Open spaces in the form of pocket parks, plazas, and roof gardens.
Analysis and Strategies Creation of a wide range of housing choices and mixed-use developments in the Centers zone, along with increased access to multimodal transportation choices, can accommodate the estimated 200,000 new residents (100,000 new residential units) Nashville-Davidson County expects over the next 20 years. According to Arthur Nelson, an expert on public finance, economic development, and metropolitan development patterns, Nashville will build an estimated 1.2 billion square feet of new non-residential space between 2013 and 2040, with an approximate value of $250 billion. Nelson estimates that all of Nashville’s predicted growth and expansion needs can be accommodated within the existing commercial nodes and along the commercial corridors across the city.
Neighborhood Design and Development The goal is to develop Centers that connect to surrounding communities via sidewalks, bikeways, and mass transit, encourage higher levels of physical and social activity, feature safe streets for pedestrians, and decreased automobile congestion. New development should provide facilities that accommodate transit shelters and street crosswalks, improving transit experience and safety. Strategy: Infill vacant lots and redesign underutilized sites to transform current Centers into truly mixed-use nodes.
Walkability and Pedestrian Safety Because of the car-centric design of buildings and infrastructure, Centers tend to be inhospitable to pedestrians. Vehicular proximity, noise, and exhaust on often narrow and fragmentary sidewalks discourage walking, just as the large amount of easily available parking adjacent to the road encourages driving. Strategy Create safe pedestrian connections— from surrounding residential areas as well as within Centers—through a reduction in curb cuts, design of buildings that front streets, and parking located behind the buildings to reduce pedestrian and automobile conflict. Develop parking shared by venues in the form of garages to enable patrons to walk between shops.
Food Resources Centers are typically well served by grocery stores. An abundance of fastfood emporiums in Centers, many with drive-thru options, enable easy consumption of high calorie, low-nutrition foods, however. Strategy Develop infrastructure to support, and orient buildings to emphasize, pedestrian accessed restaurants rather than drive-through dining. Outdoor dining patios enhance street life, which makes for a better pedestrian experience.
Housing Strategy: Increase housing within Centers to enable residents to access commercial spaces without driving. Strategy: Include a diversity of sizes and levels of affordability for housing in Centers so that retail and restaurant workers can reside locally, thus reducing vehicular demand and congestion.
Parks and Open Space Most Centers lack parks and open space, except for that dedicated to car storage. Existing pocket parks and plazas are often small and uncomfortable due to the high volume of surrounding vehicular traffic. Strategy Provide a wide variety of open spaces and parks within Centers for recreation and passive contemplation: pocket parks, open plazas, rooftop gardens, and open space amenities including water play features, amphitheaters, and patio seating. Dog parks offer opportunities for social interaction for people as well as canines. Linear greenways can link various areas within a Center as well as to surrounding neighborhoods. Mitigate noise and air pollution with landscaping.
This publication was created by:
Provide a safe and reliable transportation system for people, goods and services that supports economic prosperity in Tennessee.
Founded in 2000, the Nashville Civic Design Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to elevate the quality of Nashville’s built environment and to promote public participation in the creation of a more beautiful and functional city for all.
June 2016